You guys are the best, I love you all. Really hoping the Pats love me the same way and win on Sunday.

Also my gf bought me a Gronk jersey, which makes me happy inside.

That's pretty sick. I need a new one, I have a Rodney Harrison jersey that I've had since he signed as a free agent, but it's just a replica so it's run its course.

I'm trying to decide who I want. I'd love to get a Spikes one, but his pt has dropped and he's entering the last year of his contract. I'm thinking Chandler Jones or Stevan Ridley might be the best bets.

I certainly hope we keep Spikes around, I love the presence he brings to this defense and its something I really think we'd miss if we don't resign him. Gronk is probably my favorite player to come along since Brown (which would explain how pissed I got in the pro thread when he was called nothing special) so i am so excited to get his jersey. I'm not sure I'd go with Ridley yet, and I'd like to see Jones' sophmore campaign before I'd invest in his jersey as well.

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Originally Posted by WMD

Jesse realizing Walt was Santa Claus could really shake things up.

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Originally Posted by gpngc

I don't know how old you are, but if you can get to 24/25 without getting arrested or killed, you've done well for yourself lol.

I certainly hope we keep Spikes around, I love the presence he brings to this defense and its something I really think we'd miss if we don't resign him. Gronk is probably my favorite player to come along since Brown (which would explain how pissed I got in the pro thread when he was called nothing special) so i am so excited to get his jersey. I'm not sure I'd go with Ridley yet, and I'd like to see Jones' sophmore campaign before I'd invest in his jersey as well.

If Spikes is resigned I think that would be a no-brainer. I ******* love the guy. He just sets the tone for everyone else and he is nasty as hell.

I also love McCourty. I'll make no bones about it he is definitely in my top 5 Pats.

I'm getting pretty amped about the game already. I definitely think we can beat up on the Texans a bit, but they're a good team. I expect a pretty close game, though I think the Texans need a faster start than last week or they could be in for a long day. A start like that in NE would be disasterous for them. Settling for FGs and a costly turnover is tough to overcome on the road.

Overall, I think Wade will come up with a good defensive gameplan for Brady. It'll just be a matter of how well they can pressure him and cover Gronk, imo. We'll see if their personnel can do the exact opposite of last weeks plan well enough. Gronk sure as hell won't be dropping all the balls Gresham did.

One thing I noticed today from looking back at bits of the Texans game a few weeks ago, the Pats had a lot of success with deep drops when Watt lined up at 3 technique. On about 5 or 6 occasions he initially took on Connolly one on one but once Connolly engaged him Wendell crashed down on him and forced him outside the RT. I think both the Pats and Texans will know this going into Sunday's game but it will interesting to see what happens. Watt has been at his best lining up at either 3 technique over the RG or at 5 technique over RT. I imagine the Pats will look for a similar plan against him but the Texans will be ready. I think they could show some A gap blitzes from the inside LBs just to occupy Wendell so he can't come down and help. Then I can see them simply sugaring the A gaps then bailing just to put doubt into Wendell's mind

Film Study from a Houston fan. (Take his predictions in stride as he overlooks his own team's limitations, but otherwise a nice breakdown of the Pat's D.)

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Every Patriots defender has certain keys that they must follow against certain sets, and those keys can change based on the calls and adjustments that get made pre-snap and throughout the game. For instance, when the Patriots blitz, they generally man up immediately all across the line and shove as many people as they can into as small an area as possible in order to jail break somebody straight to the quarterback. However, New England also likes to shake things up quite a bit and employ hybrid man-zone concepts with their irregular personnel in order to bait quarterbacks into sending a hot route right into a linebacker waiting in a zone. If you want to know how the Patriots get so many turnovers, look no further than this bait-and-switch tactic that they have used very effectively since the hiring of Matt Patricia.

I think this is a case of someone using film study and still images to make their own case. This can be done for every single team at any given time.

Defenses scheme to take away what the offense likes to do. It is impossible to cover every single eventuality to come out of every possible formation. However by doing in depth film work you can see tendencies and that is what teams like to take away first.

The difficulty with looking at things like this is you can make your own conclusions and have a full belief they will work. I mean, I could get a still of the Pats lining up in 21 personnel with Gronk and Hernandez on the line and Welker and Lloyd lined up wide. The coverage on the play will likely show the middle of the field flooded with a safety shadowing Lloyd's side of the field with his CB in man coverage. Based on this coverage I could say, but if the Pats ran vertical up the seam with Gronk and vertical with Welker then that would leave them open but of course it doesn't.

In regards to questioning why the Texans didn't run to the outside, it is because on of the strengths of a Bill Belichick defense is setting the edge.

i don't think the las game was a reflection of both teams as a whole and think Sunday will be different but I would be majorly shocked if his predictions for individuals comes true. The Pats will shut down one of Houston's top threats. They may get beaten, but they will not let everyone have a field day

Oh, I agree, his predictions are overly optimistic, but I thought his breakdown of Patriot tendencies and Talib's limitations was pretty interesting.

I don't know if I agree on Talib. The play on Moss was a poor play because he didn't play the ball, not because he necessarily got beaten badly. And Randy Moss is possibly the most subtle WR to ever play the game. On the whole though he had a great game against Johnson. As he mentioned it is very tough to stop great WRs all game, but Talib done a great job slowing him down

The NIH, based in Bethesda, Md., said Seau's brain revealed abnormalities consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE. It said that the study included unidentified brains, one of which was Seau's, and that the findings on Seau were similar to autopsies of people "with exposure to repetitive head injuries."

Moore was my most recent pick. I think his combination of athleticism (4.65), experience in coverage, production as a pass rusher (7.5 sacks last year), ability to line up all over the field, and special teams value makes him a good backup linebacker to Mayo who may eventually be able to work his way onto the field in New England's sub packages. We still have one seventh-round pick left.

I hate to say this Matt, but that's pretty much a nightmare come true for me. I'm not particularly happy about the Harvin trade, I'm not a fan of Floyd and I think John Simon is a terrible football player. Stills is the best pick IMO. I don't see the need for Moore unless Fletcher is out.

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Originally Posted by ElectricEye

I'm a whiny little kunt. Feel sorry for me as I go masturbate to a picture of my mom dressed as a teletubby.

The more I think on it, the more I actually like the Harvin trade.
Realistically, I don't know that we'd trade a one for a player on the last year of his rookie contract looking to get paid.

Although our cap room is decent for next year (and can get better with some restructuring), signing Welker will take up a sizable chunk. And while I'd prefer to flip our one this year for a one next year, hopefully our pick will be so low it might not be possible to do that. Short of getting lucky, no one we can pick with our first round pick is going to make our defense an elite unit - but keeping our offense lethal for Brady's remaining time here is a viable strategy.

As for the rest of our draft, I think I'd prefer a DB or OL depth over a DE in the third, but looking at the board no one else really jumps out

The more I think on it, the more I actually like the Harvin trade.
Realistically, I don't know that we'd trade a one for a player on the last year of his rookie contract looking to get paid.

Although our cap room is decent for next year (and can get better with some restructuring), signing Welker will take up a sizable chunk. And while I'd prefer to flip our one this year for a one next year, hopefully our pick will be so low it might not be possible to do that. Short of getting lucky, no one we can pick with our first round pick is going to make our defense an elite unit - but keeping our offense lethal for Brady's remaining time here is a viable strategy.

As for the rest of our draft, I think I'd prefer a DB or OL depth over a DE in the third, but looking at the board no one else really jumps out

I think it's safe to assume Welker was allowed to walk w/Percy acting as his replacement (and upgrade) heading into the new season. Give the money to the younger, more dynamic player instead of a fading Welker.

Great write up Matt.
I'm really worried about Houston's TEs - and Foster going off with a monster game. On defense with Reed back, I anticipate Brady will see a lot more pressure.

The Raven game should remove any lingering over confidence from the first game. It's one thing to give that lip service, it's another to play like it. Houston has to play much better than they did against Cincy, but they are capable of it.

Great write up Matt.
I'm really worried about Houston's TEs - and Foster going off with a monster game. On defense with Reed back, I anticipate Brady will see a lot more pressure.

The Raven game should remove any lingering over confidence from the first game. It's one thing to give that lip service, it's another to play like it. Houston has to play much better than they did against Cincy, but they are capable of it.

Going to be a tough game.

I worry about the balance Graham gives them at TE. Not a great receiving threat but when lined up to the play side on play fakes it will rwally open Daniels on naked boot actions.

As for Reed, he is a very good player but he is generally the type of guy the Pats can cope with. It's all going to come down to JJ Watt. The Pats didn't really use their OTs to block him last time. If either Reed or Barwin can win one on one against Solder or Vollmer then I will be worried, but I think McDaniels will have a lot of confidence in both those guys to do their job well. Then allow the interior to worry about Watt.

Overall I am pretty nervous for this game. I really hope Wilfork can dominate Jones again in the run game because if we can force Foster to make his initial cut 2 yards earlier than when he wants then it limits the Texans effectiveness in the run game. It really isn't rocket science here, force Schaub into long 3rd down situations and I trust the defense to clamp down and maybe even force turnovers which will be the deciding factor. If the Texan offense stays on course for most of the day then it will be bad news.

I hate Gronk being injured. Hopefully Howouoijweorueori can step up. I've always liked him, and they'll need him to be a receiving threat next week.

It's always satisfying when the team overcomes the officiating. So many awful calls. The personal foul on Lloyd because the ref can't catch was just sour grapes. I'm not sure why the refs were leaning toward the Texans in this game. Maybe the league was trying to make an easier path for Ray Lewis and the Ravens (seems like they're getting the Jerome Bettis Steelers treatment in these playoffs)?

I absolutely detest National NFL media, particularly guys who write columns. Seriously, what does it take to get a top job at a big outlet these days?

Here's just a few snippets from Clark Judge's column on cbssports.com

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The Ravens remember what happened last year, and what happened is that Flacco outplayed Brady in the conference championship game and would've led the Ravens to the Super Bowl if Lee Evans held on to a touchdown pass or Billy Cundiff didn't blow a game-tying field goal.

Now, I could be wrong here, but I was pretty sure that a game tying field goal would...ya know...tie the game??? That's nearly as bad as Phil Simms saying the Texans should have kicked a field goal with 30 seconds left last night down 13

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One more New England victory, and we're talking Joe Montana and Brady again.

I could have sworn people were talking Brady and Montana last night...ya know...when Brady overtook him for most postseason wins by a starting QB in NFL history???

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Gronkowski is a huge part of the league's best offense, and he will be missed. I know, the Patriots managed when he was sidelined five games this season, but look what happened when he tried to tough it out in Super Bowl XLVI with a high-ankle sprain. The offense was handicapped, and it will be handicapped against a Ravens' defense that is healthy and improved.

How is the Ravens defense improved? They have no pass rush at the moment. Ngata is hurting and playing below his normal self. Ladarius Webb is missing. The Ravens LBs can't cover?

Also, yes Gronk is a big loss but this team is used to playing without him and have had success playing without him. But hey, let's ignore that recent evidence and go back to last year to find something that proves our point. They averaged 34.2 points per game without him in the regular season and put up 41 yesterday without him. How can you say the offense would be handicapped without him when it really hasn't been thus far? If anything the shiftier guys like Hernandez, Woodhead and Vereen would seem likely to have more success against the Ravens.